Clasp.



PATENTED, FEB. 21, 1905.

F. HIRSH.

CLASP.

APPLIUATION FILED APR. 20, 1904.

Patented February 21, 1905.

PATENT OEEIcE.

FRED HIRSH. OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

CLASP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 783,039, dated February 21, 1905.

Application filed April 20, 1904- Serial No. 204,027.

' may be conveniently regulated; and it has for its object to provide a simple, strong, durable, and efficient clasp especially adapted to resist a lateral or sidewise strain.

WVith these and other ends in view the said invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a face or front view of myimproved clasp; Fig. 2, a side view thereof; Fig. 3, a crosssection on the line 00 w of Fig. 1; Fig. 4, a view of the clasp as applied to a Waist-band for the purpose of regulating its length; and Figs. 5

and 6, perspective views of a modified form of the clasp, showing it in open and closed or locked position, respectively.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several figures.

The clasp consists of two parts-a back or body portion 1, one end of which is curved up and back in U-shape form, and a front plate or clamping-arm 2, which is hinged at one end to the upper end of the body portion, as at 3. The swinging front plate is formed with two wings 4 4:. which are bent inwardly at substantially right angles to the plane of the plate and serve as clamping-jaws, and in the modified form of clasp shown in Figs. 5 and 6 this plate may also have at its free end a tongue which is curved around to form a spring-catch 5 to engage the curved end of the body portion and lock the two parts of the clasp together. The back is preferably provided with raised ribs 6 6, struck upon the inside and a little within or outside of the edges of the clamping-arms when the clasp is closed, or, what is their equivalent, with grooves 6, Figs. 5 and 6, struck down from the inside and immediately underneath the edges of the clamping-jaws. The back may also be provided with means, as the holes7 7, by which it may be sewed or otherwise attached to the waistband, if desired.

8 is a transverse raised rib, which may be struck up on the inside of the back, and 8, Figs. 5 and 6, isan equivalent groove, which may be struck down from the inside of the back, if desired.

The parts of the clasp are made from sheet metal or of any other suitable material, and each may be stamped out and shaped by asingle operation of suitable dies.

The device is simple, easily and cheaply manufactured, strong and durable, and its lateral clamping-jaws render it exceedingly eflicient in binding together parts the strain of which is from the sides rather than the ends of the clasp.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. Aclasp or fastener consisting of a back or body portion one end of which is curved up and back and a front plate hinged at one end to the upper end of the body portion, the said front plate provided with lateral wings which are bent inwardly at right angles to form clamping-jaws, substantially as described.

2. A clasp or fastener consisting of a back or body portion curved up and back at one end and a front plate hinged at one end to the upper end of thebody portion, the said front plate provided with lateral clamping-jaws the edges of which cooperate with parts struck out from the said body portion, substantially as described.

3. A clasp or fastener consisting of a back or body portion curved up and back at one end and a front plate hinged at one end to the upper end of the body portion and provided with lateral clamping-jaws and an end catch, substantially as described.

4. A clasp or fastener consisting of a back or body portion curved up and back at one v end and a front plate hinged at one end to the In testimony whereof I have hereunto afupper end of the body portion, the said front fixed my signature in presence'of two Witplate provided with lateral clamping-jaws the nesses. outer ends of which extend back when the 5 clasp is closed beyond the plane passing Nitnesses:

through the hinge perpendicular to the back R. S. ROUNDS, or body portion, substantially as described. WM. B. VVIHTNEY.

FRED H IRSH. 

